Blood Relic
by Convergence-Eternal
Summary: ONI has a mission that will require a delicate touch, and they have just the soldier for the Job. Set after the events of Halo IV. No Master Chief, Edward, or Bella. Story contains O.C.'s, OOC moments, and minor violations of established Cannon. Halo is the property of Bungie/343 Industries and Twilight is the property of Stephanie Meyer.
1. Black Rose

She was nervous. There was no one in the room right now yet she knew it was only a matter of time. It was a small room, with a large mirror to the left of her and a door straight ahead.

A woman came out of the door. A stunningly beautiful woman with her golden hair tied back. Her uniform had no distinguishing features or sign of rank.

Now she was terrified. The woman was a spook, a spook with golden eyes. They were eyes of a predator stalking its prey. Eye's that brought back memories. There are things she didn't want to remember.

"You know why you're here?", asked the spook. She nodded; too afraid her voice would betray her.

"Don't worry, we're not going to execute you. After all you don't even exist". She was shaking now and her breathing was uneven.

"From here on out you will do as we say. You are a ghost, untraceable and expendable. You will do as you are told, Specter", the ONI Agent told her smugly.

"Spartan", she corrected her.

The agent let her composure slip a little and let a bit of the real her bleed through the icy exterior. Resentment and hatred burned beneath those golden eyes.

"I've always wanted to meet a Spartan. I was so looking forward to meeting Stacy Carter. Yet, the reports say she went MIA two weeks ago. A pity, really."

Their eye's met. She didn't mind the fact that for all her pompous self-aggrandizement, the spook still had to look up when addressing her.

"Spartans never die"

The agent smirked, "Let's put that to the test, ".


	2. Interrogation

Nothing says welcome to ONI like a nice new set of all black power armor. The only thing is that the armor Stacy received was neither new nor was it powered armor, but at least it was black.

In what must be another zany practical joke by the most paranoid branch of the UNSC, she had some how been given a used set of ODST Great War era armor. How they had found a loaners set of ODST armor fit for a 203 cm tall Spartan was simply beyond her.

At least they had enough respect for her or rather standard guidelines to remove any distinguishing marks from the armor and give it a paint job, except it looks like they missed a spot

A possible link to her past came in the form of seven letters carved into upper left of the BDU's chest plate, C-A-R-T-E-R.

Either she was the victim of the mother of all coincidences or ONI had a sick sense of humor, or both, or neither. When it came to ONI you never could be sure.

Yet all those minor details were of moot importance. Right now she was in a small room, with a large mirror to the left of her and a door straight ahead.

Straight ahead of her was a woman with golden eyes. An ONI Spook wearing all black with no distinguishing marks or rank on her black uniform. The Spook was sitting casually in her chair. As if this were a tea party and not an interrogation.

"Mr. Carter, do you know why you're here?", asked the Spook. She nodded, too confused to do anything else.

"Don't worry, we're not going to execute you. After all I'm sure that you are not the first ODST to suddenly appear out of the blue after 3 years Missing in Action". She was immensely thankful that her visor was tinted. Her expression was half way between abject horror and terminal befuddlement.

"You are to report to me in my private quarters tomorrow for debriefing. After that you are to head straight to Catharine Palmer to find out about your mission. Do you need a guide?"

She shook her head.

"That will be all Mr. Carter. Your family would have been proud of you, shame I never got to meet your sister".


	3. Debrief

ONI has been a fixture of the public imagination since the end of the Great War. They are the heroes' of spy movies, the villains in those annoying movies by independent filmmakers, and the double-edged sword of the UNSC.

If one was asked where a spook might live then any number of possibilities might come to mind. Some one from the navy might mention the quarters they have to set aside for them. Some one from the army might insist it's no coincidence that 7.7 percent of their tents go missing every year. It is also a likely possibility that any one who watched too many horror vids might say ONI scientists live in secret lairs where they kidnap children to turn into government sponsored killing machines.

Yet despite all these excellent and obviously factually based theories, Stacy was having a tad bit of trouble finding the gold eyed spooks "private quarters". After three hours of knocking on every door she could find, the ex-Spartan decided to just ask Roland.

The Air ducts, the fracking air ducts. The suspiciously large air ducts. That is how she got to gold eye's "Private Quarters". Roland was kind enough to calculate the exact number of awkward crawling motions to reach said "Private Quarters".

"38,949 . . . 38,950 . . . 38,951 . . . Ahhhhh!", she fell 8 meters downwards through a hole torn through the air duct. A hole torn through several millimeters of solid steel, who or what could have done that?

* **Slam** *, "Glad your could make it", said the spook in a saccharine tone.

"What?", she murmured.

"I was beginning to worry you had gotten lost", commented the spook. Stacy meanwhile got to her feet.

"Now, Mr. Carter I bet you would like to hear about your mission. It's simple enough for even you to understand. Go in, locate the artifact, and call for evac. You will hold the line until the artifact is off the station, and all personnel are expendable. Do I make myself clear?"

Stacy nodded in response.

"Good now report to Mrs. Palmer, you can go out that door. The Spartans quarters can't be very far from here".

Mrs. Carter did as she was told.


	4. Pecking Order

The black suited soldier Stacy Carter made her way to the Spartan quarters. Waiting for her was the finest Spartan the world had ever seen, Sarah Palmer.

With her innate leadership abilities Sarah Palmer was the obvious choice for commander of the Spartan forces on board the UNSC Infinity. Alas a certain tragic mistake left her in hot water with ONI. What a shame.

Roland had informed her ahead of time about the ODST that would be joining her on this mission. She was pissed.

"I see you found your way, Soldier", Palmer sneered.

Carter nodded.

"You're rather tall for an ODST", commented Palmer. Her eyes flew to the name carved into the ODST DBU's, "Mr. Carter". Palmer decided to stand up to her full height to look down on Mr. Carter, she succeeded, barely.

Then the finest Spartan alive slammed "Mr. Carter" into a nearby wall and lifted the ODST by the throat at arms length.

"Let me make one thing clear to you Mr. Carter. This is my mission, you will do as you are told or I will crush you like a bug.", roared Palmer. Mrs. Palmer then dropped the ODST.

"If you live through this mission, be sure to tell ONI who gave you those bruises", spat Mrs. Palmer venomously.

Mrs. Carter nodded and left the room.


	5. Contact

Fifty Caliber Sniper, Rockets, enough 7.62 ammo to bury the arbiter alive, all this and more had Emmett poured into the Covenant Remnants force. One marine against waves and waves of covenant, every one knows how stories like that end.

There was no Evac, no hope of making it out alive; it was just Emmett guarding one entrance and the rest of the squad guarding the other. At least the corridors of the research station were narrow so the Covies would have to take it nice and slow.

Something big was coming. Emmett raised his Plasma rifle then lowered it, Spartans. Emmett couldn't believe his eyes. Apparently the Spartans couldn't believe their eyes either because they kept their weapons raised.

Not that Emmett could blame them. His condition didn't do him any favors when it came to first impressions. Usually they would ask why he was taking such care to cover up his face or why was he wearing goggles, except he had lost those during the firefight.

Now a more likely question would be: why are your eye's red or why is your BDU covered in blood?

At least in this case it wasn't human blood. The piles of torn and dismembered hostiles scattered about would hopefully attest to that.

"Dear god", said a Spartan with a Scottish accent.

"Oh . . .um, sorry about the mess. My name is private Cullen and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance"

The room was silent.

Then Palmer assumed direct control, "I am Commander Palmer and this is fire team Majestic. We are here to recover a relic of some kind. The Covenant seem to want it, so do we".

Emmett smiled; in retrospect not the smartest thing to do when you still have bits of Ungoy stuck in your teeth.

"Right this way", he offered while he led them down the passageway. Yet something was on Emmet's mind. Six Spartans, seven hearts beating.

"Some one's following us", he whispered.

"I know", responded Palmer.

Then an certain ODST turned off their cloaking device. Emmett went bug eyed for a moment. It wasn't every day you saw an ODST the size of a Spartan.

"How?"

"ONI"

That explained everything. The rest of the trip was made in silence until they reached the Artifact. It was an ebony cube with orange veins running across its surface, like an ugly beating heart.

Palmer reached out to grab it yet something stayed her hand. "Is it safe?", she asked. When no answer came the mysterious ODST stepped forward and grabbed the object. When the ODST didn't vaporize or get teleported to a Covenant HQ, the Spartans relaxed a little.

Palmers then snatched the Relic from the ODST's hand and motioned for her troops to move out. Private Cullen and the ODST followed as well. The journey was relatively peaceful until they came upon the bodies of several Marines.

Private Cullen was shaking. With an ugly hiss, the plasma rifle in his hands buckled as the private tightened his grip. Footsteps could be heard a short distance away. The Spartans heard it, the ODST heard it, and Emmett couldn't restrain himself any longer.

Soon as the elites turned the corner a green blur shot forth. Their energy shields didn't last longer then half a second. Every one could hear their rib cages break, every Spartan could see the smile on Emmett's face, and no one could ignore the fountain of blood that erupted from the Elites as Emmett tore them to pieces. Before Palmer could say a word Emmett was gone, he left behind only a spray of red mist.

The Sangheili were the apex predator of their home planet, on this station they were prey. Majestic team tried to keep up; after all it wouldn't do to let the entirety of the ass kicking go to the Marines. Yet the only difference between whether they ran or sprinted was how fresh the corpses left behind were. It was a bloody mess.

When the Spartans finally got to the Evac point, they found a marine waiting for them. A marine covered from head to toe in blood and gore. The Private was on his knee's looking down at his blood stained hands.

"It's time to get out of here, that's an order private", bellowed Palmer. Emmett didn't move. In the end it took four Spartans to drag him onto the Pelican.

"You're coming too soldier. ONI or not you are still under my command and I don't leave troops behind to die", yelled Palmer.

The ODST took a step forward then shook their head and activated their cloak.

"I won't let you die on me!", roared Palmer.

"Spartans Never Die", responded the voice.

Then Palmer noticed the briefcase that had come with the pelican. It was black and unremarkable except for two fascinating details. The first was the ONI markings on the side, the second was the nuclear warhead it held within. She understood.

With a grunt Sarah Palmer threw the brief case out of the Pelican. Then the Pelican's bay door closed and they left the station behind.

A thousand miles away a military drone witnessed the most spectacular explosion. The research station was engulfed by the radiance of a thousand suns.

It all happened so fast. Even in Spartan time it was hard to comprehend. A Spartan clad in all black that paid the ultimate price, a Marine soaked in the blood of the Enemy, and ONI, fracking ONI.

For fire team Majestic the whole thing felt like a bad dream, where everything just blurred together and you can't remember how you got there or where it went from here. It just didn't seem real. It couldn't be real.

So why couldn't they wake up?


	6. Infinity

The ever triumphant fire team Majestic returned to the UNSC infinity via Pelican drop ship. Another mission done, another day spent, a whole new list of things they would never forget.

What were they? You could call them Veterans, survivors, successors, even relics. Yet to the UNSC they were Spartans. They were the best of the best, or so ONI would have you believe.

They certainly wanted to believe so. They had to be the best. It was their fate to serve the UNSC to the best of their ability in order to be an example for others. Every child wanted to be a Spartan, every Marine envied them, and every ODST tried their best to pretend they didn't want to be one too.

Spartans never died. Spartans won us the war. Spartans were the next step in the evolution of humanity.

Yet the Spartans disembarking from the pelican into the infinities dock hardly felt like heroes today. They were carrying precious cargo, a relic of the past and a soldier who never let go of his.

"Thank you very much for your service's Commander Palmer. Now I believe those belong to me", announced the spook.

"Rose?", asked Emmett.

The Spook opened her mouth to say a snarky comment but thought better of it and then leapt forward, nocking Emmett out of the grip of two Spartans. The two rolled across the ground but eventually the gold haired spook ended up on top of the Marine.

"So your not mad at me?"

"Oh, no. I am positively livid."

Emmet gulped nervously.

"But . . .", said Rosalie, she didn't bother finishing her sentence. Instead the two started making out on the floor while all of the Spartans and a few navy personnel refueling Pelicans watched.

Commander Palmer cleared her throat. Then she coughed several times. After several more similar attempts she ended up just putting the relic by the two lovers and walked away. She had better things to do then watch two personnel go at it like they hadn't seen each other in a hundred years, like play capture the flag.

If anyone had beaten Commander Palmer's score on the leader boards, blood would be spilt tonight.

A great many things in the future remained uncertain. What new insights could be made into the technology of the Forerunners, would Rose and Emmett be able to rekindle their old fire, would any one be able to beat Palmers new record? Yet whatever the future may bring, one timeless adage would forever ring true. Spartans are the baddest SOB's alive, Oorah!


End file.
